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Thread: The First Ever Transformers Review. (Hilarious, but real.)

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by FFN View Post
    Hey, you found that on the TF wiki's Transformers timeline article, didn't you?
    No, I remembered it from my alt.toys.transformers days. But that's a useful timeline nonetheless - I notice the list also mentions the first usenet post about the cartoon (which I found the other day while looking for the above one) and is also worth a read:

    http://groups.google.com/group/net.c...e=source&hl=en

    "Transformers-- When I first saw this show my reaction was enthusiastic
    to say the least. "That's Japanese!" I could tell by the use of
    dramatic angles, the slightly jerky motion of twelve frames per
    second, and the "patented" use of shadow colors on human figures. My
    enthusiasm for the art has not died down much, but I had never thought
    much of the writing. The story centers around two research teams sent
    out from the planet Cybertron to find energy. One team is the
    Autobots (Good guys), and the other is the Decepticons (Bad guys).
    Apparently all of the self aware machines on Cybertron can transform
    from humaniod robot to a useful vehicle or weapon. Well, these two
    teams happened to land on earth at the same time. The patriotic
    Decepticons are trying to exploit earth in any way possible to get
    energy to Cybertron. If they can supply Cybertron with enough energy,
    it seems, they will be able to rule it. The Autobots are trying to
    stop the Decepticons. Later the show degenerates to the point in
    which the Decepticons are just trying to rule the earth, or defeat the
    Autobots.

    The characters are standard to anyone who has read comics. We
    have the stout defender of truth, justice, and a good socket wrench:
    Optimus Prime. There is the evil, scheming, He-who-schemes-and-runs-
    away villain: Megatron. Don't forget the token human boy: Spike.
    There are also plenty of other assorted stereotypes. These are played
    by some familiar voices: Peter Cullen, and Michael Bell from the
    Voltrons, Scattman Crothers of various prior performances (remember
    the mailman in Chico and the Man?), and Casey Kasem from American Top
    Forty on radio, American Top Ten on TV. He also played Mark on
    Battle of the Planets, and Robin the Boy Wonder on Superfriends. (He
    also played Shaggy on Scooby Doo. ed.)

    The sound track is unimpressive. mostly a replay of the original
    theme you've heard a thousand times on the commercials; and that one
    riff they play each time a scene changes. It gets as annoying as the
    chant between scenes of "He-Man".

    The animation is still nice. It's more consistent than G.I. Joe
    or Mask, and seems to be the top of the line for animation that is
    storyboarded in America and sent to Japan. They don't do the more
    impressive tricks Mighty Orbots or an original Japanese production
    would have done, like a close in on a moving ship as it whizzes by
    you, or circling the main character. What they do, however, they do
    well.
    This is not great television, far from it, but if you like to see
    some nice animation, this isn't too bad.

    As a foot note, I've noticed that they took out the credit that
    tells who did the animation. I think that this is a crime. I truly
    doubt that the people who watch would like to know more about the
    script editors than the animators. I've seen several where it
    credited Toei Doga for the animation.

    Transformers rates a 4 on the Flanamation Scale."

    Bill Flanagan, 6/10/1985.

  2. #12
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    Who were you on the ATT? Are you friends or blood enemies with the WIIGIIS? (ATT is before my time on the internet, and from what I understand, there were three types of people, enemies of the WIIGIIS, friends of the WIIGIIS and Raksha)
    http://www.tfwiki.net, the Transformers Wiki - Serious intellectual discussion about transforming space robots.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by FFN View Post
    Who were you on the ATT? Are you friends or blood enemies with the WIIGIIS? (ATT is before my time on the internet, and from what I understand, there were three types of people, enemies of the WIIGIIS, friends of the WIIGIIS and Raksha)
    Ah, well on ATT I went by the rather unlikely username of... Sky Shadow.

    It's all water under plenty of bridges now, but I would have fallen into the "enemy of Wiigii" category. At times, my Wiigiiesque 'enemies' would have included Hooper X, Recharge and Brian Kilby. Other Wiigiis like Walky, Sipher, Suspsy and I were all fairly neutral and pleasant towards each other. My friends were the likes of Derik Smith, Aaron F. Bourque, Merytneith, Zobovor, Jackpot and Iacon (we were the denizens of alt.toys.transformers.fanfic).

    My enmity of Brian Kilby was so legendary in 2001 that an allegorical 'Funfic' was written about it (funfics were generally written under a double-pseudonym with deliberate spelling mistakes - presumably so it couldn't be traced back to the original author - and generally took the piss out of people at ATT.):

    http://groups.google.com.au/group/al...ba29b173?hl=en

    "SKY SHADOW: I will never do so because I WILL WIN! I AM AYSTRALIAN!"

    Regarding Raksha, I once wrote some parody song lyrics about her newsgroup(alt.toys.transformers.classic.moderated) 's draconian adherance to only discussing Generation 1. It probably makes little sense these days, but the Raksha camp vehemently believed the Decepticon's ship was called the Star Drive (for hilarious reasons), that Nightbird was sentient and that Beasts were a travesty, thus Beast Wars Ravage didn't exist (but Machine Wars was okay):

    *The G1 Connection.* (To the tune of *The Rainbow Connection* by Kermit the Frog.)

    Why are there so many rules about posting
    Upon ATTCM?
    Surely the Nemesis was always the Nemesis
    And not the Star Drive way back when.

    It’s not that they don't understand any changes:
    They know that Goldbug's Bumblebee.
    Someday they'll find it,
    The G1 connection:
    The Prowls and the 'Screamers and me.

    What is not classic about Beast Wars Ravage
    When Machine Wars isn't OT?
    G1 is great but that’s mainly nostalgia.
    G1 never won an Emmy

    (Though Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond
    Was Trypticon in Season 3.)
    Someday they'll find it,
    The G1 connection:
    The Prowls and the 'Screamers and me.

    Some of us at ATT
    Think ATTCM is crazy.

    If things get quiet we can just mention Nightbird:
    There's plenty to say about that.
    Saying she's sentient is not that impressive:
    I could say the same about my cat.

    I just don't get those guys' personal canon
    (Should that be 'continuity?')
    Someday they'll find it,
    The G1 connection:
    The Prowls and the 'Screamers and me.
    La la la la la la la
    La la la la la la la la!

    P.S. Raksha also believed that the Decepticons were the good guys, the Autobots were sexist, and that the Decepticons using humans as slaves was no different to us farming cows. Thus I wrote the following 'essay' considering the other option (the bizarre notion that the Autobots were in fact the good guys. Note that at the time I wrote this, I hadn't read the Victory manga [in which the Breastforce Decepticons have wives and girlfriends] so I assumed it was the Zone Decepticons with the female partners, not the Victory ones. The rest should all make sense):

    http://groups.google.com.au/group/al...f0d92dbd32ca4d

  4. #14
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    i love crazy people on the internet

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by roller View Post
    i love crazy people on the internet
    I thought you were the crazy people roller.

  6. #16
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    Ah Raksha. Amongst her many notable moments, I always loved the fact she manages to smuggle a boxed Fort Max into her house and keep it a secret from those living there for well over a year.

    She's out of the fandom now, breeding animals and hiding from pretty much the entire fandom. I believe her love of snakes is still there, but her devotion to Soundwave has probably waned.

    I'd more or less drifted away from ATT by the time the .fanfic newsgroup began - there were so many... less desirables... far too much noise. One of the downsides of the birth of AOL - US trailer trash speaking their minds in unmoderated cyberspace.

    Sky Shadow, were you around in the days of Nixtr? I suspect only griffin will remember his fall.


    Eagerly waiting for Masterpiece Meister

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sky Shadow View Post
    Ah, well on ATT I went by the rather unlikely username of... Sky Shadow.

    It's all water under plenty of bridges now, but I would have fallen into the "enemy of Wiigii" category. At times, my Wiigiiesque 'enemies' would have included Hooper X, Recharge and Brian Kilby. Other Wiigiis like Walky, Sipher, Suspsy and I were all fairly neutral and pleasant towards each other. My friends were the likes of Derik Smith, Aaron F. Bourque, Merytneith, Zobovor, Jackpot and Iacon (we were the denizens of alt.toys.transformers.fanfic)
    Hey, some of those people are on the TFwiki. Derk and Jackpot are also regular wiki contributors
    http://www.tfwiki.net, the Transformers Wiki - Serious intellectual discussion about transforming space robots.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by FFN View Post
    Hey, some of those people are on the TFwiki.
    I know... I assumed that was why you asked about Wiigii.

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by dirge View Post
    She's out of the fandom now, breeding animals and hiding from pretty much the entire fandom. I believe her love of snakes is still there, but her devotion to Soundwave has probably waned.
    It would be hard, as I suspect anything to do with Transformers or Decepticons would remind her of Skyflight's absence.

    Quote Originally Posted by dirge View Post
    Sky Shadow, were you around in the days of Nixtr? I suspect only griffin will remember his fall.
    Ah. I was there for the fall. It didn't do wonders for stereotyping of toy collectors (and gave the denizens of Wiigii's an entire new genre of inappropriate humour: Nixtr jokes.)

  10. #20
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    To paraphrase the TF Wiki:

    The first ever Transformers review...and it's a complaint. This must surely have been a sign of things to come.

    Also, Sky Shadow, your essay was one of the funniest TF-related things I have ever read.

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